Welcome!

Hi, I’m Tony, Longshot Lucky – same as You. Not sure what I mean by “Longshot Lucky”? Click the poetry link above. It will take you to our poetry link. There you will find “Longshot Lucky Winners All among our posted poems. We do hope that you go over to this section and look around. I promise, absolutely promise that you will find some resonance. If not…what’s the problem? No matter, your money will be cheerfully refunded no questions asked.

If you haven’t visited our overlook for a while or this is your first time, I ought to explain that after considerable nagging on my part, my talented, modest (sometimes to a fault given this mememe… dog-eat-dog world) wife and life partner Hessie has joined me on what is now our overlook. By sharing some of her words and art, she’s enhanced (very greatly from the feedback we’ve received) the perspectives from this ledge.

FYI

Hessie’s memoir, “There Once Was A Girl: My Philadelphia Story” is available on Amazon as a paperback or as a Kindle download; also from Barnes and Noble/Nook. Hessie’s book is the poignant, honest story of growing up poor but rich in a time and place now quite gone and fading from memory. In Pennsylvania, perhaps elsewhere, “There Once Was A Girl…,” is either in your local library’s collection or can be requested.

We have been busy enhancing the views from here. Significant improvements are indicated below. On a temporary basis this information is being given prominence on the “Welcome” page to whet your interest; going forward it may be modified or superseded to make room for other announcements. However, the entire content of this website can always be accessed by clicking on the “top menu” choices at the top of the page.

“Cuba Now! 2015.” The videos of our “Our Cuba Now 2015” trip have been completed and uploaded to Youtube (also to Daily Motion; some to Vimeo as well). Our trip was memorable and of course timely. We have already gotten a lot of “hits” and nice feedback. To reach and view any of our videos on Youtube, just click on the avatar of me lumbering into the sunset (that is me, I am) on the bottom of each page. However, with regard to “Cuba Now 2015, there is an even faster way. If you click below on the title beneath the intriguing (I hope) thumbnail from (Fusterlandia near Havana) you will be transported to the our Cuba Youtube playlist. Note: if like me and Hessie you have an interest in video, please click on the link on the top menu.

Hessie’s Travel Journals. At my urging, sometimes almost too diffident Hessie has allowed me to begin posting her travel journals. So far 9 are up. They’re like being there but without the snafus or hassles (sure we’ve had a few) or expense. In each journal you will be personally guided by her always enthusiastic and informative sunshiny “voice,” plus will be treated to a generous helping of some of our best photos. To take a look just click below on whatever thumbnail title below that particularly appeals, or (yeah, I know there are too damn many options), go to the “top menu” on this page and select “Hessie’s Travel Journals.”

“Your ‘Voice’ Here” & “Also.” We have modified the top menu and added these two choices. Our hope is that “Your ‘Voice’ Here” will foster more participation from kindred spirits and so further enrich the perspective from our unique ledge. We’re fortunate to have been already able to include several exceptional entries. Have something you’ve created (and own) that you’d like to share? Let us know. As for the “Also” section there are some things I’ve been thinking about (maybe more observations, opinions, conundrums, ironies, politics – brrr, a little philosophizing, I’ve gotten plenty old enough for that sort of stuff) that I will put there if I can muster the resolve. Maybe Hessie will contribute too, though we haven’t even talked about it. If we are kindred or complementary spirits, “Your ‘Voice’ Here” is the place for your stuff.

Ok, enough of that. Now for a little background for newbie’s. We are Tony and Hessie Guida. Home is Central Pennsylvania. For 50+ years we have partnered on a variety of projects, most important: making our way into the ever changing grown up world; begetting, raising and caring for our children, and more recently, being adoring if all-knowing to our six grandchildren. When I first met Hessie we were both 18, she barely. To impress her I passed myself off as an engineering student who was also an artistic type (or was it the other way around ? – probably both). I showed her pretty face some of my artwork (if it wasn’t very good, it was in my Physics notebook which I correctly surmised might make a favorable impression – bingo).

It didn’t take long before I was forced to realize the scope of Hessie’s abilities and her artistic talent (as a writer her words are deceptively simple and direct, making them almost as winsome as she is; as a painter she’s original and fearless (you should see our walls) and then there’s her career in film and video. Unlike much more widely known flash in the pan personalities/egos, Hessie’s career in “pictures,” one that began back in the dank catacombs of the last century, continues undiminished. After disappointing some (not me!) by not trying for Hollywood, she began as our unpaid (low/no-budget) film ingenue; doubling as our tireless, dexterous, sharp eyed editor whose accomplishments included more than once making something good to watch from the nothing scraps on the cutting room floor. Since those early days she’s gracefully evolved into our one-take-wonder world travel diva, and my most trusted (only) video pre-release critic.

If you like our shared perspectives, and, I mean really, what’s not to like, yes, by all means tell a friend – and, yes, yes certainly, let us know . (No faint or dutiful praise please ;>) Let’s face it what’s this site about if not sharing and a little feedback. Though you can leave a note on-site, best way by clicking on “So…Let Us Know” in the top menu. However, email is the best way. You can reach me at tony@guida productions.com or Hessie at imladyg@aol.com. Thanks.

Sincerely, Tony

(Longshot Lucky same as you)

P.S. I would like to thank our Webmaster, intergalactic Pro Joshua Gelwicks for launching weighty us and some of our stuff out into these cosmic wave fields…spatial ethers…ultra gravity horizons…and cyber-seminal whatevers.